Saying it was "past time to stop
slaughtering horses in Illinois," Governor Rod
Blagojevich on May 24th signed a bill making it illegal
to kill horses there for human consumption. A DeKalb
slaughterplant had been the last in the nation to
kill horses (see: http://tinyurl.com/2kmzbj
). On May 16th the Illinois Senate had passed the
bill by a 39 to 16 vote. Earlier it had passed the
House (see: http://tinyurl.com/2864sz
).

The two other U.S. horse slaughterplants,
both in Texas, apparently will remain closed as a
deadline passed without action on a state bill that
was expected to be amended to authorize their reopening.
Additionally, the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to
hear a petition to overturn a federal appeals court
ruling that in effect had shut the plants down (see:
http://tinyurl.com/24r5jj
). However, time still remains for an amendment to
be tacked onto another bill, as happened on May 11th
(see: http://tinyurl.com/2864sz
).

Animal protection advocates are pushing
for a federal ban on the export of horses for slaughter.
"Thousands of horses face grueling trips to slaughter
facilities in Canada and Mexico unless Congress acts
now to protect them," said Wayne Pacelle, head
of The Humane Society of the U.S. Opponents say horses
should be treated as other farmed animals, and that
horse slaughter is humane and creates jobs. Horse
breeders, trainers and others involved in the horse
industry claim they are already losing money (see:
http://tinyurl.com/2oyap4
).

A bill to end cockfighting on August
15th was approved earlier this month by the senate
of Louisiana, the last state in which it is legal
(see: http://tinyurl.com/2999s3
). An amendment that would have permitted the practice
to continue for a year was rejected. The bill, by
Senator Art Lentini, now faces the House, where it
is vying with one that would also end cockfighting
on Aug. 15th but has numerous amendments that repeal
the application of animal-cruelty laws to farmed animals.
An attempt to amend Lentini’s bill in the same
way was rejected 11 to 27 by senators.

Human “babies are built from protein,
calcium, cholesterol and fish oil,” states food
writer Nina Planck in an opinion piece entitled “Death
by Veganism” that ran in the May 21st New York
Times. Planck, who touts lard and other animal products
as health food (http://www.ninaplanck.com
), wrote in response to the recent conviction of a
vegan couple whose 6-week-old child, Crown Shakur,
died of starvation from being fed primarily soymilk
and apple juice (see: http://tinyurl.com/2vur35
). She asserts: “…a vegan diet is not
adequate in the long run. Protein deficiency is one
danger of a vegan diet for babies. Nutritionists used
to speak of proteins as ‘first class’
(from meat, fish, eggs and milk) and ‘second
class’ (from plants), but today this is considered
denigrating to vegetarians.” Planck warns: “…even
a breast-fed baby is at risk. Studies show that vegan
breast milk lacks enough docosahexaenoic acid, or
DHA, the omega-3 fat found in fatty fish….A
vegan diet is equally dangerous for weaned babies
and toddlers, who need plenty of protein and calcium.”

The Times ran six letters in response,
including one by Amy Joy Lanou, a nutritionist who
testified at the trial as an expert witness for the
prosecution. She noted that the lead prosecutor told
the jury that it was a lack of food and not a vegan
diet that killed Shakur. Lanou notes that a large
body of scientific research confirms that vegan diets
are healthful for infants and other children [see:
http://tinyurl.com/djodu
and: http://tinyurl.com/2mkhv6
], and contests Planck’s claim about DHA. In
her letter, Zoe Weil wrote: “Yes, vegans need
to ensure that their children get proper nutrition,
including vitamin B12 and omega-3s, but this is easy
to do. What's harder is having a child who eats the
typical American diet stay healthy.” Nicole
Speer states: “Generalizing from a handful of
ignorant vegans to the entire vegan population does
a disservice to those of us who have spent years educating
ourselves on human nutritional needs and how to meet
them on a plant-based diet.” On his website,
John McDougall, MD., has posted a lengthy response
to Planck’s piece: http://tinyurl.com/2j6fpv

Using live turkeys as punching bags,
ripping their heads off, and slaughtering conscious
birds are among the accusations Mercy for Animals
(MFA) has filed against House of Raeford Farms (HRF),
said to be the 7th largest turkey processing plant
in the U.S. An undercover investigator working in
the North Carolina plant during January and February
documented the assaults on videotape (viewable on
the MFA site, along with related information: http://tinyurl.com/2ek8z4
). They include workers putting their entire hands
into the bodies of live chickens to pull eggs out
in order to toss them at each other, while a supervisor
looks on. [“Poultry for Profit (and Fun!)”
states the HRF website: http://tinyurl.com/32x34m
]. "This is a sloppy poorly managed plant where
employees are allowed to abuse animals...There are
some management people that need to get fired,”
stated industry advisor Temple Grandin (http://www.grandin.com
) after viewing the footage, according to the MFA
site. Since birds are not covered by the Humane Slaughter
Act, MFA is pressing for felony cruelty-to-animals
charges to be brought against the company for violating
the state’s animal cruelty statutes.

"The malicious activity coerced
by the vegetarian organization, Mercy for Animals,
is not indicative of company policies and is not tolerated
by company management," responded HRF owner and
founder Marvin Johnson. He also said that the employment
of 4 of 5 workers implicated in the video terminated
just after it was recorded. HRF says it is committed
to standards endorsed by the National Chicken Council
and the National Turkey Federation. Last November
it received a 95% score on a welfare audit conducted
by a third party company. On May 21st, Denny’s
Inc. announced it was suspending its relationship
with HRF pending further investigation of the allegations:
http://tinyurl.com/25ty9k.

Peter Peevers, the manager of a New
Zealand dairy herd, knocked two heifers down with
a 350cc all-terrain
vehicle after failing to get them to move.
According to The New Zealand Herald: “Having
pushed over the first animal, he kicked her repeatedly,
and when the heifer would not get up, drove the quad
bike over the animal several times. The herd manager
then left the bike parked on the heifer, put a chain
around the heifer's throat and attempted to pull it
with a tractor. The heifer's head slipped out of the
chain and she ran off. Peevers then used the quad
bike to knock the second heifer to the ground, before
she ran under an electric fence, where she got stuck.
Peevers pushed her through the fence, leaving her
with a bleeding nose. In a separate incident, another
heifer defecated on Peevers and he was seen repeatedly
punching her in the udder.” The two incidents
occurred in August 2006 and reportedly lasted over
an hour. Under interrogation, he admitted to the assaults
and has been fined $4,000 after pleading guilty to
two charges under the Animal Welfare Act.

People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals (PETA) sent a letter to Norm Goldstein, editor
of the Associated Press (AP) stylebook
requesting the book -the guide for language usage
for most U.S. newspapers and magazines- be changed
so that pronouns used to refer to nonhuman animals
be “he,” “she,” and “who”
[rather than “it” and “which”].
Among the letter’s points is that many magazines
have already made the change, and that the legal system
has recently elevated said animals to a status above
“property,” recognizing that abusing animals
is a worse crime than is vandalism. AP responded that
the stylebook only uses “it” and “which”
if the animal’s gender and name is unknown.
[Would that be appropriate in reference to a child?]
Under the entry for “animals,” the book,
in part, states: "Do not apply a personal pronoun
to an animal unless its sex has been established or
the animal has a name: The dog was scared; it barked.
Rover was scared; he barked. The cat, which was scared,
ran to its basket. Susie the cat, who was scared,
ran to her basket. The bull tosses his horns.”

``We hope to spread compassion and
humane treatment for all animals across the country
at every stop we make,'' said Annette Fisher, ``Animals
need to be treated with respect, and they're not getting
that in the slaughter houses....” Fisher, the
co-founder of Happy Trials Farm Animal Sanctuary in
Ohio, was planning to transport ten pigs to another
sanctuary in California and decided to use the journey
to generate media on the plight of pigs. She did so
by inviting Harley-Davidson (“hog”) and
all other motorcyclists to escort the double-decker
trailer carrying the pigs, entitling the endeavor
“Pigs Across America” and “Hogs
Gone Wild.” Some 100 riders are expected to
join the 2,500-mile, five-day trip begun May 20th.
Numerous stopping points are planned, including in
Chicago, Des Moines, Cheyenne, Salt Lake City, Reno,
and Sacramento. The travelers are to be supported
by a “network of sanctuaries, volunteers and
well-wishers.” Details, photos, the planned
route can be found at the source link below.

The Akron Beacon Journal is publishing
trip updates at: http://tinyurl.com/2n2avu.
The May 24th entry states: “ I watched in horror
as the driver walked around his trailer and stuck
a long stick in the sides of the trailer and occasionally
gave a pig a shock with his electric cattle prod,
which would always produce some ear-splitting screams.
It was explained to me that this is a normal practice
to get any pigs that might be laying down to stand
up so they don't [g]et trampled by the other pigs
during transport. But instead of getting in and driving
away, the driver zapped the pigs and then walked away
from his rig and disappeared, leaving the now-screaming
pigs alone.”